You

Celebrate Life

Vasan Sri

Life is to be celebrated each day---in each hour and in

each minute. Recently I was hospitalized for two days
due to sudden weakness and anaemic condition....I was
terrified first that it might be some problem with my
heart valves...A cardiologist examined me first and
took EKG, echo-cardiogram and Tread-mill
test....Nothing to do with the heart, he said...My
heart was structurally perfect. But then, a junior
doctor asked for my blood test and found that I was
anaemic---the red cell count or Rb was very low....Soon
I had a transfusion of blood.
After I was discharged from hospital, I became
introspective...The specter of sudden death had loomed
large 12 hours ago...How one should "face" life as it
presents surprises, shocks and insecurity, mostly from
health point of view?

Live life to the full each day! The most common

advice has been to live "ONE DAY AT A TIME".
Do not think too much about the future: the future may
be one month ahead or one year ahead in your mental
horizon....Think of today and keep all future plans
very tentative , ready to change without your willing.
Well, think less about the future---to the extent you
can!
My thinking also led to a kind of mental cleansing--it
is required. Why carry resentment or disappointments or
out right anger against any one when your life could be
short and may not extend beyond a few days? If you
have some guilt feelings, it is now to get rid of them.
Everyone has had a few 'enemies' --- persons who used
you or were mean to you or downright unfair to you...we
,of course,carry hateful feelings towards
them...mentally curse them if you will but then forget
them and do not dwell on them...It is easy to say "Love
Thy Enemies"..but it is extremely difficult if not

impossible..But you can take the view that Life itself

would teach them (Your enemies) a lesson or two, and
you need not worry about them...In other words, take
those actions they did towards you as matters of minor
importance in the larger perspective of one's life on
Earth...you are designed to do greater things with your
talents, abilities and assets.
After getting rid of guilt and resentments , you are
on your way to enjoy what life has offered you...Count
your blessings, your special talents and above all,
your sensual pleasures .
For the most part, celebrating life begins with
enjoying simple sensual pleasures such as eating food
items of your choice or even a good cup of coffee!!
You may dress well to the extent you can afford. You
may like some jewels and would wear them .As for
myself, I am fond of different types of wrist watches
which I rotate on my wrist...the glamour and the beauty
of a watch ,besides the brand name ,gives me pleasure.

You may derive pleasure from many other sensual

material, including good wine and special cuisines.
One of the sensual pleasures often discounted is sense
of touch. Touch and feel a small baby or partner in
life or friend.Even holding one's hand with feelings
can evoke joy in life...Do not neglect these as part of
your life.
One of the greatest pleasures of life is to enjoy
the company of your friends. Friends may be recently
acquired ones or long term or childhood friends who
know everything about you and can take liberties with
you. Periodic meetings with such friends are not only a
real source of pleasure, but give you a broader
perspective on life and greater strength to face life's
ups and downs...you can always talk to them freely and
lessen your burden of the heart. A proper advice from
such a friend and good support can mean a lot to you,
particularly if you are over 65 years , like me.
Celebrating life is not just fun and games with

friends and relations. You contemplate on the

parameters of life. You may look at stars and wonder
what is your "place" in the universe.
Or You may wonder how you acquired this human heart--a
physical pump with four chambers which keeps on ticking
with nearly 90 beats per minute for many, many years.
What about other physical organs producing amazing
chemicals [enzymes, hormones, lymphatic fluids and
blood ]inside your body. What about your tiny brain
,about two kilograms ,which keeps so many memories
stored and can recall much that you learned several
years ago! You can marvel at the physical instrument
you have with remarkable properties and functions. How
your eyes change with its lenses constantly adjusting
for the distance of the objects and recording the
beautiful colors with subtle variations you can
identify ?
There was another element in my introspection that
I should write about. There was the sudden or shocking

realization how I was wasting time in useless thoughts

and useless readings. Many of such thoughts have very
little meaning or relevance to me, but still I was
engaging myself in those thoughts...Was it mere
curiosity or a way of spending one's time? How could I
spend my time more wisely or at least more usefully
given my talents and abilities and assets? This
realization suddenly turned me away from trivial
activities and meaningless discussions/arguments. That
is a new perspective on one's mental actions....This
was the main thing that gave me great pleasure, leading
to
"much celebration " of life.

One asks the frequent question: "Should one
experience a sudden jolt or calamity or tragedy to
learn to celebrate life? ". Can we just introspect as a
matter of routine contemplation or meditation to arrive
at such a state? For some that may be possible...But

for many of us, a rude shock in life is needed to focus

our mind on celebrating life. The shock may appear as a
cruel joke on us, meted out by LIFE (or fate or God).
It is like walking towards a cliff. But that is a
lesson to learn from. We need many such lessons.
When one learns that life can be short, one may turn
to help others unconditionally...well, we learn to
'love unconditionally' though the word "love" had been
overused and often misinterpreted that I may like to
avoid using this word. Every act of charity and
kindness is a step in celebrating life. A smile is an
easy gift you can make to others.
Celebrating life is ,to a large extent, enjoying
simple pleasures of life, without cynical attitudes and
resentments in our hearts.
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